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TopicERROR ANALYSIS : CAUSES OF ERROR

And Shahnaz Mehboob

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DEFINITION OF ERRORError An error according to Corder , takes place

when the deviation arises due to lack of knowledge. An error cannot be self-corrected.

( Ellis,1994)

ERROR ANALYSIS

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DEFINITION OF ERROR ANALYSIS Corder (1974) defines EA asWhat has come to be known as error analysis has to do with the investigation of the language of second language learners.

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WHAT IS ERROR ANALYSIS/BACKGROUND

Error analysis is linguistic analysis that focuses on the errors learners make by comparing between the errors made in the target language (TL) and that TL itself.

Error analysis is an important source of information to teachers

It provides information on students' errors Helps teachers to correct students' errors Improves the effectiveness of teachers, students,

researchers Michaelides(1990:30)

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AN ARTICLE BY CORDER Pit Corder (1967) ‘Father’ of Error Analysis

through his article ‘The significance of Learner Errors’ that Error Analysis took a new turn.

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SIGNIFICANCE OF EAError analysis helps teachers to

assess the remedial work necessary for English as a Second Language (ESL) students preparing for an English Language test and to help students avoid the most common errors

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TWO JUSTIFICATIONS OF EACorder, (1981:112) suggests that there are two justifications for studying learners' errors: its relevance to language teaching. the study of the language acquisition

process.

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TWO OBJECTS OF EAAccording to Corder (1974) error analysis has two objects: one theoretical and another applied.

The theoretical object deals with what and how a learner learns when he studies a second language.’

The applied object enables the learner ‘to learn more efficiently by manipulating knowledge of his vernacular for academic purposes’.

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CORDER’S EXPLANATION OF ERROR

Corder (1974) distinguishes between systematic and non-systematic errors

Nonsystematic errors occur in one’s native language.

L2 errors are systemic

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WHY EA IS DONE?Sercombe, (2000) explains that EA serves three purposes. Firstly, to find out the level of language

proficiency the learner has reached. Secondly, to obtain information about

common difficulties in language learning Thirdly, to find out how people learn a

language.

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MISTAKES AND ERRORS

In order to analyze learner language in an appropriate perspective, it is crucial to make a distinction between mistakes and errors, technically two very different phenomena.

Mistake –refers to a performance error that is either a random guess or a “slip”, in that is a failure to utilize a known system correctly. Native speakers make mistakes. When attention is called to them, they can be self-corrected.

Error –a noticeable deviation from the adult grammar of a native speaker, reflects the competence of the learner

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ERRORS (E) Mistakes (M)

E -> Level of Competence which a learner has achieved

Limitations of Performance which a learner would be able to correct

An error cannot be self-corrected, according to James (1998),

while mistakes can be self-corrected if the deviation is pointed out to the speaker.

while the errors are a result of one’s systematic competence (the learner’s system is incorrect). i.e. likely to occur repeatedly and notrecognized by the learner. Hence, only the teacher or researcher would locate them, the learner would not (Gass and Selinker, 1994).

> error reflects gaps in a learner‘s knowledge

Mistakes are referred to as performance errors (the learner knows the system but fails to use it)

> mistake reflects occasional lapses in performance

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STEPS IN ANALYSING LEARNERS ERRORSCorder (1967) identified a model for error analysis which

included these stages:1. Collection 2. Identifying3. Describing4. Explaining5. Evaluating/correcting the errors

Models for Error Analysis

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LEARNER ERRORSCORDER (1974) SUGGESTS THE FOLLOWING STEPS IN ERROR ANALYSIS (EA) RESEARCH:

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STEP 1 (a) Collection of a Sample of Learner

Language The starting point in EA is deciding what samples of

learner language to use for the analysis and how to collect these samples.

A massive sample involves collecting several samples of language use from a large number of learners in order to compile a comprehensive list of errors, representative of the entire population.

A specific sample consists of one sample of language use collected from a limited number of learners.

Incidental sample involves only one sample of language use produced by a single learner.

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1. IDENTIFYING ERRORS

question arises whether the error is overt or covert An overt error is easy to identify because there is a clear

deviation in form, as when a learner says:1. “I runned all the way.” 2. I hungry!

A covert error occurs in utterances that are superficially well-formed but which do not mean what the learner intended them to mean. For example, the utterance from (Corder, 1971 a):“It was stopped.” is apparently grammatical until it becomes clear that “it” refers to“the wind”.

STEP 2

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2. DESCRIBING ERRORS

It is categorizing errors grammatically.

Trying to identify general ways in which the learners utterances differ from target-language utterances.

Corder (1973) proposed four major categories:

STEP 3

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category description example

Omission leaving out items which are required for

grammatical correctness

1. She sleeping.2. He went bus stop.

Addition The presence of an item that must not appear in well formed utterances

1. Does he can swim?

Misinformation: use of one grammatical form instead of

another

1. The dog ated the chicken.

Misordering: putting words in a wrong order

1. What daddy is doing?

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Corder distinguishes three types of errors according to their systematicity:

(i) Pre-systematic errors occur when the learner is unaware of the existence of a particular rule in the target language. These are random.

(ii) Systematic errors occur when the learner has discovered a rule but it is the wrong one.

(ii) Post-systematic errors occur when the learner knows the correct target language rule but uses it inconsistently (i.e. makes a mistake).

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STEP 4 Explanation of Errors Explanation is concerned with establishing the source of the error,

i.e. accounting for why it was made. This stage is the most important for SLA research as it involves an attempt to establish the processes responsible for L2 acquisition.

Taylor (1986), points out that, the error source may be psycholinguistic, sociolinguistic, or may reside in the discourse structure.

Psycholinguistic sources concern the nature of the L2 knowledge system and the difficulties learners have in using it in production. Sociolinguistic sources involve such matters as the learners’ ability to adjust their language in accordance with the social context.

while discourse sources involve problems in the organisation of information into a coherent ‘text’.

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TASK OF TRACING THE SOURSE OF ERROR.

L2 learners create rules on their own, different to the rules of the target language.

Systematic Errors

Universal ErrorsL2 learners commit the same grammatical errors.

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L2 learners overgeneralize form that they find easy to learn and process.

Overgeneralized Errors

Transfer ErrorsL2 learners attempt to make use of their L1 knowledge

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STEP 5

ERRORS EVALUATION

Purpose: to help learners to learn an L2.

Global errors (violate the overall structure of a sentence)

Local error (affect only a single constituent in a sentence)

EXAMPLE OF ERROR AND ERROR ANALYSIS

One day an Indian gentleman, a snake charmer, arrived in England by plane. He was coming from Bombay with two pieces of luggage. The big of them contained a snake. A man and a little boy was watching him in the customs area. The man said to the little boy: ‘Go and speak with this gentleman’. When the little boy was speaking with the traveller, the thief took the big suitcase and went out quickly. When the victim saw that he cried ‘Help me! Help me! A thief! A thief!’ The policeman was in this corner whistle but it was too late. The two thieves escape with the big suitcase, took their car and went in the traffic. They passed near a zoo and stop in a forest. There they had a big surprise. The basket contain a big snake.

[French native speaker]

One day an Indian gentleman, a snake charmer, arrived in England by plane. He was coming from Bombay with two pieces of luggage. The bigger of them contained a snake. A man and a little boy were watching him in the customs area. The man said to the little boy: ‘Go and speak with this gentleman’. When the little boy was speaking with the traveller, the thief took the big suitcase and went out quickly. When the victim saw that he cried ‘Help me! Help me! A thief! A thief!’ The policeman, who was in this corner, whistled but it was too late. The two thieves escaped with the big suitcase, took their car and went into the traffic. They passed near a zoo and stopped in a forest. There they had a big surprise. The basket contain a big snake.

[French native speaker]

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SOURCES OF ERRORS They can be categorized in two domains:

1. Interlingual transfer2. Intralingual transfer

INTERLINGUAL TRANSFER:

Errors due to the influence of the native language in learning L2 are called interlingual errors. Interlingual errors

are also called transfer or interference errors

Interlingual Transfer is a significant source for language learners.

Dictionary of language Teaching and applied Linguistics (1992) defines:

“Interlingual errors are the result of language transfer which is caused by the learners’ first language (MT).”

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LEVELS OF INTERLINGUAL ERRORSIt occurs at different levels: phonological, morphological, Grammatical.elements of the native language (L1) into the

Target Language.

INTERLINGUAL TRANSFER

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At phonological level:Lack of certain L2 phonemes in the learner’s L1

Differences in syllable structures in L1 and L2 Spelling pronunciation of words The problem of silnt letters

The sounds that do not occur in TL cause the students to mispronounce them. Indonesian learners attempt to pronounce

-‘th’ of ‘thank you’ as ‘t’ of ‘tea’.

AT MORPHOLOGICAL LEVEL:MORPHOLOGICAL-SYNTACTIC ERRORSWRONG USE OF PLURAL MORPHEME WRONG USE OF TENSESWRONG WORD ORDERWRONG USE OF PREPOSITIONSERRORS IN THE USE OF ARTICLES

THE STUDENTS TEND TO OMIT THE SUFFIX AT THE END OF THE WORD, SUCH AS

- MANY BOOK- ONE TROUSER

AT GRAMMATICAL LEVEL:- THESE STUDENT IS (STUDENTS ARE)

COMING TO THE LIBRARY.

Lexico-semantic Errors (related to the semantic properties of lexical items) * I am working 24 o’clock each week. * English is alive language by which everyone can

convey his ideas.

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INTRALINGUAL Interference of the student’s own language (MT/L1) is not the only reason for committing errors.

Some errors seem universal, reflecting learners’ attempts to make the tasks of learning and using the SL/TL/FL simpler. (Ellis,1997).

These errors are common in the speech of the SL/TL/FL learners.

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INTRALINGUALIntralingual and developmental errors are due to the difficulty of the second/target language. Intralingual and developmental factors include the following

1. Simplification: Learners often choose simple forms and constructions instead of more complex ones

Overgeneralization:

This is the use of one form or construction in one context and extending its application to other contexts where it should not apply.

Faulty teaching:

Sometimes it happens that learners' errors are teacher-induced ones.

i.e., caused by the teacher, teaching materials, or the order of presentation

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5. Avoidance: Some syntactic structures are difficult to produce by some learners. Consequently, these learners avoid these structures and use instead simpler structures

fossilization Errors in pronunciation persist for long period and become difficult to get rid of it.

Arab ESL learners lack of distinction b/w /p/ and /b/ in English.Pird instead of bird.

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Hypercorrection It is the process where the efforts of teacher’s in correcting learners error induce learners to make mistakes.

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ERROR TREATMENT Teachers cannot and should not correct all

errors committed by their students. Besides, the frequent correction of oral errors disrupts the process of language learning and discourages shy students from communicating in the target language.

The following are general guidelines in correcting

second language learning errors:

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1.Teachers should correct errors affecting intelligibility, i.e.,errors that interfere with the general meaning and understandability of utterances. In this connection, teachers should concentrate on correcting global errors more than local errors.

Error analysis helps to understand the process of SLA (second language acquisition)

Error analysis shows the troublesome linguistic areas or errors that L2 learners encounter in learning

The errors give valuable feedback to both teachers and learners regarding strategies and progress.

The error also provides research with insights into the nature of SLA process

IMPORTANCE;(CONTI) Error analysis is useful in second language

learning because it reveals to us.

Teaching strategies

Syllabus designing

Textbook writers of what the problems areas are.

CONCLUSIONError anaalysis is a useful technique to define the learners errors of second language.1. It is beneficial to the learner and the teacher

both2. It is compulsory to evaluate the current status of

the learner 3. It also indicate the problem areas and the

solutions of them4. It explores the reinforcement areas of the

learners5. It helps to acquire linguistic rules of second

language

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THANK YOU

ANY Q?

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REFERENCES Corder, S.P.1967. The significance of a learner’s errors. In: IRAL 5,

4:161-170. Corder, S.P. 1974. Error Analysis. (158-171). London: Longman. Corder, S.P. 1975. Error analysis, interlanguage and second

language acquisition. Language teaching and linguistics: Abstracts, 8, 201-218.

Corder, S.P. 1981. Error Analysis and Interlanguage. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Ellis, R. 1997. Two approaches for investigating second language acquisition in context. In R. Ellis (Ed.), Second Language Acquisition in Context (pp. 3-29). London: Prentice-Hall.

Gass, S.M. and Selinker, L. (Eds.). 1994. Language transfer in language learning (re.ed.).Amsterdam: John Benjamins.

Michaelides, N.N. 1990. Error Analysis: An Aid to teaching. English Teaching Forum Vol.XXXVIII/ 4: 28:30

Selinker, L. Lakshnaman, V. 1992. Language Transfer and fossilisation: The Multiple Effect Principle. In Grass, S.M. and Selinker(eds) 1992. 197-216